Sudan’s SPLM Protests Unequal Treatment

In Sudan, former rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) say they are dissatisfied with the refusal of the National Congress to treat them as equal partners in the government. This comes after a meeting yesterday between President Omar al-Bashir and SLPM chief Salva Kiir to try to salvage a fragile peace deal that was disrupted when the former rebels walked out on the government last week. The former rebels are also accusing Sudan’s National Congress of trying to run the government of national unity like a one party state, which they say is inconsistent with the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that effectively ended the war.

The former rebels added that they are committed to the CPA and urged the National Congress to do the same. SPLM Deputy General Secretary Yasser Arman in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum tells reporter Peter Clottey that they had a fruitful discussion yesterday with President Bashir.

“It has not been adjourned. The first vice president met the president, and they had very sound talks and they are discussing the issues of the implementation and violations of the peace agreement. And later, they also discussed the issue of the reshuffle. The meeting was frank and cordial, and we are optimistic that they would receive the result, which would focus on implementation of the CPA,” Arman said.

He noted that the SPLM is dissatisfied with the lack of political will in implementing the CPA.

“We are not yet satisfied. It is the first vice president’s meeting with the president, and we hope things would go all right in the coming meetings,” he said.

Arman denied the SPLM has given the unity government an ultimatum to implement the CPA.

“We are the Sudan’s People Liberation Movement. We didn’t give an ultimatum to anybody. We are part of this government, and this government is based on the CPA. And it has to implement the CPA. And that is what we are doing with our partners the National Congress. Our partner the National Congress is not treating us as equal partners. We need them to treat us as partners and to implement the agreement. That is the purpose of the national unity government,” Arman pointed out.

He reiterated the SPLM’s frustration with the National Congress.

“It is not the government. We are part of the government. It’s the National Congress, which is not treating us fairly. The National Congress wants to run the government as one party government. We need it to be a joint administration based on the CPA. We need them to implement the agreement to usher the country into peace and stability and democracy and to resolve correctly and in a just manner the issue of Darfur. That’s what we want and they are behaving contrary to that. And we want them to come on the right track with the CPA,” he said.